AMERICA: Freedom of Religion

In a September 2015 letter addressed to Superintendent D. C. Machen Jr. of Bossier Parish Schools, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) claimed Airline High School “has engaged in a pattern of religious proselytization by establishing ‘prayer boxes’ with Christian symbols throughout the school and by religious messages in newsletters posted on the school’s website.” They added, “This letter is to inform you that these practices violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution and comparable provisions of the Louisiana Constitution, and they must stop immediately.” In response, the Arline High School board unanimously ruled against complying with this letter’s demands. They pointed out that US history is built on “freedom of religion, not freedom from religion,” noting they did not violate the Constitution as alleged.

Unfortunately, such accusations are increasingly made in our nation today. Take, for instance, Assembly Bill 2943 in California—essentially making it unlawful to have any religious material that seeks to change or even oppose one’s sexual orientation and gender identity. Which, if made into a state law—directly violates the Constitution.

You see, those who oppose Christian influence continue to work through legal action to harass and change traditional expressions of faith in schools, workplaces, government, and communities in an effort to remove religious expression. In fact, one such organization has chosen this very name: Freedom from Religion Foundation. Its stated purposes are “to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.”

-       celebrated accomplishments include halting a government chaplaincy to minister to state workers,

-       prevent prayer at school graduations,

-       remove Christian chaplains from the military because they teach from the bible.

Here are four common beliefs and practices our nation was built on to not only preserve but advance a nation whereby we are free to exercise and express our God-given rights without infringement.

1. CERTAINTY IN NATURAL LAW

Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Law. Order. Freedom were foundational truths, principles, and rights that come from God—not man—a belief strongly held and articulated in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Thomas Jefferson wrote,

Man has been subjected by his Creator to the moral law, of which his feelings, or conscience as it is sometimes called, are the evidence with which his Creator has furnished him. ... The moral duties which exist between individual and individual in a state of nature, accompany them into a state of society. Their Maker not having released them from those duties on their forming themselves into a nation.

Both the recognition and yielding to natural law revolutionized life as we know it. Much of history had been dominated and ruled by aristocrats, kings, emperors, and dictators—never by the people and for the people. However, America’s founding documents changed all of that. They looked to a higher law—God’s law. And His law—was a higher order that didn’t change. Our Founders strongly believed that these unchanging laws didn’t apply to a select few; they believed they were meant for all humanity who bear the image of their Creator.

2. BELIEF IN GOD AND THE PRACTICE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Our founders were religious, and each one believed religion was vital to the survival and advancement of America. They believed the government benefited from having a religious people. George Washington wrote, “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”

According to our Founders, all people had the right to enjoy and exercise their religious liberties without interference.

The government, both state and federal, did not have the authority to restrict or prevent someone from freely exercising their religion. James Madison, key writer of The Federalist, and a major contributor to the ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, said, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity ... to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

3. LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

Our founders believed that inherent rights are a gift of God, and those rights need to be protected at all costs. And that is exactly what they did—sought to protect those rights at all costs.

The Framers made it abundantly clear from the start that Congress, not individual states, is limited in its capacity to establish, exercise, and even disestablish a state-run religion. Additionally, the Establishment Clause is the one that prohibits Congress from having jurisdiction or enforcement over the religious freedoms expressed in public life, and, it is the Free Exercise Clause that allows the state (i.e., Congress) to protect these religious freedoms and expressions. Historically speaking, the view of that day was that the Church (religion) and State (government) were two separate spheres but with adjoined purposes. Government was to protect the civility for the people. Religion was to enhance the morality and vitality of the people.

The establishment of the great United States is a nation built on the fundamental belief that government is not to have power over the people, but the power belongs to the people over the government. The bottom line is, the government is not to legislate arbitrary or capricious laws that undermine the American people’s constitutional rights—primarily their first freedom or religious freedom.

Noah Webster, signer of the Declaration and author of the 1828 edition Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language has to say this regarding Christianity and equal justice: “The Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”

4. GOVERNMENT IS NOT A MONARCH, IT IS A REPUBLIC

William Penn firmly stated, “Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.”

Thomas Jefferson said, “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.”

An extraordinary piece of common sense from Jefferson was limiting the office of the president. This was seen as a threat to the freedoms of Americans, according to Jefferson. Thankfully, the delegates listened and put in place certain restrictions. All and all, here’s some common sense about government from our founders:

• The government is not to have power over the people, but people over the government.

• The government is instituted among people and receives its allotted role to serve and protect them.

• The government is to preserve the unalienable rights of the people.

• The government is to submit to the power of the people if they see the right to dissolve or abolish it and institute a new government.

• The government is not to legislate arbitrary or capricious laws, but only laws that the governed consent.

• The government is to enact justice.

• The government is to regulate commerce between the states and maintain a strong currency.

• And the government is to protect the life, liberty, and property of the people from threats within and abroad.

America became a nation, and then a great nation, not merely because some charismatic leaders got together and decided to declare independence from England. The very roots of our civil order extend into the bedrock of the moral law that originates with God. Acknowledgement of this God, and of the natural law stemming from Him, was requisite to the establishment of America. Our nation didn’t emerge from a moral vacuum in which morality is self-determined, with the rule of law optional and God not permitted in the public arena. Our liberties have a source and eliminating the source of our liberties will unquestionably eliminate the existence of our liberties.

It was renowned American President Abraham Lincoln’s observation that “it is the duty of nations ... to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed, whose God is the Lord.”